The art club and robotics team paired up to present Walter the Wizard, WHS’s mascot, with a high-tech staff to complete his Wizard look. After all, a wizard’s staff is a symbol of power and authority. The clubs achieved the look of power and authority in the staff’s design through their hard work and collaboration.

The robotics team put a lot of work into creating the electrical components of the staff. Graden Gentry (11) is part of the robotics team. “To create the staff we essentially have magnetic sensors in the staff and there is a magnet in the wizard’s glove that will turn on three different functions for the wizard’s staff. One of them is off, one of them is red and one of them is white. So then it uses LEDs in that top part of the wizard’s staff. And then when it turns on, it will display those LEDs, creating the wizard effect,” Gentry shared.

Art club — now known as Wizarts — is now up and running. Hannah Alonso (staff) is the sponsor for the club. She is an art teacher at WHS and put a lot of effort into getting the art club started. 

The art club’s involvement with the creation of the staff really made the project come to life. Without their artistic contributions, the staff would not have the “wizard” effect it needed. “Mr. Cline, who is the sponsor of robotics, found out we started an art club this year and asked if we would be a part of painting it,” Alonso said.

Shannon Cooney (12) was one of the art club students involved in painting the staff.

“So pretty much the robotics team did the light up… and we just, like, decorated it,” Cooney said.

The art club students used different techniques to give the staff the woody look they were going for. “We used hair dryers and acrylic paint and everything just to get a nice natural-looking wood,” Cooney shared.

Once the staff was completed — both in appearance and mechanics — it was time to present the finished product to Walter the Wizard. Gentry, Cooney and Shia Crawford (09) presented the staff to Walter during the 2023 homecoming pep assembly. 

Gentry was the student who officially passed it off to Walter. “It was just joy. We were just happy we were giving him the staff. We were happy that all our hard work came together and it looked good,” Gentry said.